Seems like it's about that time for my biennial trip to Disney World. It hasn't been planned that way, we just end up going to WDW every two years for various reasons. You can read about my past adventures in my signature.
The who would be your humble narrator, me; and my DM, who henceforth I shall refer to as Moms.
The when was Wednesday April 18th through Monday the 23rd of 2018
The where was Port Orleans - Riverside
The why was I decided to come out of retirement and signed up for the Star Wars Dark Side Half-Marathon weekend
I didn't write a pre-trip report, so allow me a bit of a preamble to set the stage.
I ran the Star Wars half-marathon in Disneyland back in 2016. It was my first running event of any kind and it went well enough, but I figured that was probably going to be my first and last marathon event. Retire a champion I always say. There were only two problems. One, I regretted not going for the Rebel Challenge medal; and two, I wanted to a Coast-to-Coast medal. So after sitting out last years' Star Wars race in Disneyland I found myself getting an itch. Like Jordan wearing the 45 I had to come back. This time I was gonna go all out.
My initial plan was to do the full set of races at the Disneyland Light Side event (the 5K & Challenge [10K & half]), then do the full set of Dark Side events in WDW. I'd be getting 4 medals at each weekend, plus the coast-to-coast, and the Kessel Run medals. That's just mo' medals, mo' medals, mo' medals. In my mind, and air conditioned room, this seemed like a great idea. The Light Side registration was postponed, but no problem I went ahead and signed up for the Dark Side races. Then proceeded to wait for the Light Side to open up to carry-out my master plan. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. If you don't know, Disneyland has suspended all of their RunDisney events for the foreseeable future until they finish with construction projects that would be in the way. I seriously considered cancelling for a bit there, but there are no refunds and I really did want to go back to WDW.
Moms was reluctant to go. She had gotten sick on our last trip to WDW and most of her recent visits to Disneyland. I was completely fine with a solo adventure (not to be confused with the upcoming Star Wars spin-off 'Solo'; which I am totally looking forward to), but Moms felt she had to go in case I had a heart attack or something. Moms wasn't fully on-board, but I knew I had to make some plans. I booked ADRs for Be Our Guest lunch, Chef Art Smith's Homecoming (because fried chicken & donuts), & Liberty Tree Tavern (ooey gooey toffee cake). Moms eventually decided on going and booked us a room at POR. We've stayed there twice and have really liked it in the past. This year's ticket increase was about a week before my 60 days, so I bought a 6-day park hopper ticket the day before the increase. At 60 days I was able to get a FP+ for Flights of Passage on Friday, the only FP+ I was concerned about getting. I ended up getting another FOP FP+ for Sunday afternoon, a SDMT for Thursday, and Rivers of Light for Friday evening. That was the extent of my plans. I knew I'd be getting up super early and going to bed early so I figured I'd just go with the flow.
About a month before the trip Moms started to get excited about going and wanted to know what I had already booked. She wanted to do some sort of dining package event and after browsing the MDE app chose the Rivers of Light package. She called and was able to get a RoL dining package booked at Tiffin's for Sunday night. That meant I had to cancel the Homecoming ADR since they were at the same time. Goodbye fried chicken and donuts, maybe next time. Moms wanted to eat at Rose & Crown, so we added that for Saturday. We've eaten at BOG twice and enjoyed it both times, but it was also on Saturday; so au revoir.
That brings us to the beginning of the story, which I will have to continue later. Sorry about the wall of text.
The who would be your humble narrator, me; and my DM, who henceforth I shall refer to as Moms.
The when was Wednesday April 18th through Monday the 23rd of 2018
The where was Port Orleans - Riverside
The why was I decided to come out of retirement and signed up for the Star Wars Dark Side Half-Marathon weekend
I didn't write a pre-trip report, so allow me a bit of a preamble to set the stage.
I ran the Star Wars half-marathon in Disneyland back in 2016. It was my first running event of any kind and it went well enough, but I figured that was probably going to be my first and last marathon event. Retire a champion I always say. There were only two problems. One, I regretted not going for the Rebel Challenge medal; and two, I wanted to a Coast-to-Coast medal. So after sitting out last years' Star Wars race in Disneyland I found myself getting an itch. Like Jordan wearing the 45 I had to come back. This time I was gonna go all out.
My initial plan was to do the full set of races at the Disneyland Light Side event (the 5K & Challenge [10K & half]), then do the full set of Dark Side events in WDW. I'd be getting 4 medals at each weekend, plus the coast-to-coast, and the Kessel Run medals. That's just mo' medals, mo' medals, mo' medals. In my mind, and air conditioned room, this seemed like a great idea. The Light Side registration was postponed, but no problem I went ahead and signed up for the Dark Side races. Then proceeded to wait for the Light Side to open up to carry-out my master plan. Unfortunately, it wasn't meant to be. If you don't know, Disneyland has suspended all of their RunDisney events for the foreseeable future until they finish with construction projects that would be in the way. I seriously considered cancelling for a bit there, but there are no refunds and I really did want to go back to WDW.
Moms was reluctant to go. She had gotten sick on our last trip to WDW and most of her recent visits to Disneyland. I was completely fine with a solo adventure (not to be confused with the upcoming Star Wars spin-off 'Solo'; which I am totally looking forward to), but Moms felt she had to go in case I had a heart attack or something. Moms wasn't fully on-board, but I knew I had to make some plans. I booked ADRs for Be Our Guest lunch, Chef Art Smith's Homecoming (because fried chicken & donuts), & Liberty Tree Tavern (ooey gooey toffee cake). Moms eventually decided on going and booked us a room at POR. We've stayed there twice and have really liked it in the past. This year's ticket increase was about a week before my 60 days, so I bought a 6-day park hopper ticket the day before the increase. At 60 days I was able to get a FP+ for Flights of Passage on Friday, the only FP+ I was concerned about getting. I ended up getting another FOP FP+ for Sunday afternoon, a SDMT for Thursday, and Rivers of Light for Friday evening. That was the extent of my plans. I knew I'd be getting up super early and going to bed early so I figured I'd just go with the flow.
About a month before the trip Moms started to get excited about going and wanted to know what I had already booked. She wanted to do some sort of dining package event and after browsing the MDE app chose the Rivers of Light package. She called and was able to get a RoL dining package booked at Tiffin's for Sunday night. That meant I had to cancel the Homecoming ADR since they were at the same time. Goodbye fried chicken and donuts, maybe next time. Moms wanted to eat at Rose & Crown, so we added that for Saturday. We've eaten at BOG twice and enjoyed it both times, but it was also on Saturday; so au revoir.
That brings us to the beginning of the story, which I will have to continue later. Sorry about the wall of text.
Last edited:
Port Orleans - Riverside
Port Orleans - Riverside
Grand Floridian - Happily Ever After
Grand Floridian - Happily Ever After
Grand Floridian - Happily Ever After
Grand Floridian - Happily Ever After
Grand Floridian - Narcoossee's
Grand Floridian - Narcoossee's - Shrimp and Crab Cake
Grand Floridian - Narcoossee's - Grilled Grass Fed Filet Mignon
Grand Floridian - Narcoossee's - Surf & Turf
Grand Floridian - Narcoossee's
Grand Floridian
Grand Floridian
IMG_0749
IMG_2515
IMG_2521
